Om forskningsproblem igen —svar till Bjereld, Demker och Hinnfors

Abstract

On research problems again - rejoinder to Bjereld, Demker and Hinnfors. In the article Problematiska problem? (Problematic Problems?) Bjereld, Demker and Hinnfors respond to the criticism that we have raised against parts of the reasoning in their book Varför vetenskap? (Why Science?), where "intrascientific" problems or "paradoxes" are presented as the only valuable research topics. The major part of the article constitutes of an argumentative presentation of their own reasoning, with references to Karl Popper and others. Yet, we are not sure that these references support their reasoning, since these references are discussing research problems in general and not specific ‘intrascientific’ problems. In the rest of the text ‘good examples’ of ‘intrascientific’ problems are presented and the pedagogical issue of how students can be taught to work like these good examples are discussed, without any efforts by the authors to problematise their own line of argument. We do not see that the authors succeed to convince that ‘intrascientific’ problems are the only valuable research topics. These problems might be valuable research topics, but there are still many more valuable research topics than those.